Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral has some surprising stories to tell before it reopens this weekend after five years of restoration. The cathedral is considered France’s geographic center, marked by a plaque used to measure distances nationwide. Its famed chimera sculptures were actually 19th-century additions by architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc.
FILE - Preserved gargoyles of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral are pictured, on April 17, 2019 in Paris . FILE - Workers wearing disposable underwear and other protective gear after a delay prompted by fears of lead contamination clean the area in front of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, on Aug. 19, 2019 in Paris . FILE - Medieval sculptures of Notre-Dame cathedral’s jube are displayed at the exhibition “Making stones speak”, at the Cluny Museum, National Museum of the Middle Ages, in Paris , on Nov.
While the plaque was installed in 1924, the idea of a national “ground zero” dates to 1769. King Louis XV envisioned a central reference for France’s growing network of roads, a concept that tied the nation’s geography to its heart in Paris.Those scary stone creatures on Notre Dame might seem ancient, but not all of them are what they appear. The actual gargoyles, which are monster-shaped gutters used to drain rainwater, have been around since the time of the cathedral’s construction.
How to tell them apart? Gargoyles resemble horizontal spikes coming out of the facade and have holes in their spouts to allow water to drain.During the French Revolution, which saw waves of protest against the Church, Notre Dame wasn’t exactly treated like a revered cathedral. In 1793, revolutionaries stripped it of its religious symbols and renamed it “Notre-Dame de la Raison” .
Religious services resumed in 1795, and Notre Dame regained its sacred status on the impulse of French emperor Napoleon I, who held his coronation there in 1804, immortalized in a famous painting by Jacques-Louis David.In 1792, revolutionaries also decapitated 28 statues from Notre Dame’s facade, mistaking them for French monarchs. They were actually ancient kings of Judah, biblical ancestors of Jesus. The heads were thought lost forever, possibly destroyed or sold as building materials.
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